Associations are here to advance their missions, further their communities, align towards a shared goal, and provide resources for their industry.
Rhythm is here to accelerate your missions – and facilitate that through technology.
We know that associations like yours rely on Association Management Software (AMS) as the foundation of their technology ecosystem. As the backbone of association operations and the member experience, it’s critical that we as the AMS provider get things right.
Sometimes, that means finding beauty in refining the basics. Other times, it’s delivering innovative features that unlock potential for your programs and offerings. All of the time - 24/7/365 - it’s delivering an exceptional experience to our customers.
To do that, we have to shake things up.
We have to challenge the status quo.
Here’s how Rhythm did that in 2022.
Pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in an AMS, while perfecting the fundamentals
AMS platforms are big. Think about it - we are one tool that’s responsible for:
- Providing an outstanding online experience for your constituents
- Storing all of your data - securely
- Processing all of your financial transactions
- Automating your membership processes
- Hosting your regional and larger events - and the folks that attend
- Keeping track of all of your continuing education programs and courses
- ….and even more
An AMS needs to do all of that while being flexible enough to help associations of different types, sizes, and requirements be successful.
The catch? Technology evolves fast. So, association and member expectations do, too.
At Rhythm, it isn’t enough for us to simply meet our customers’ expectations. We want to exceed them. We know that “the way things have always been” isn’t usually enough to propel anything forward, so we strive to trailblaze instead. Put simply, innovation is in our DNA.
So, how did that show up in our platform in 2022?
CONSISTENT ENHANCEMENTS + IMPROVEMENTS
Here at Rhythm, we believe that a great product is just as much about optimizing existing features as it is about building new ones. While we’re always adding more functionality, we’re also listening to our customers and making enhancements that will give them a better experience and make their jobs easier.
In 2022, we had a total of 1,422 enhancements and improvements to the platform. Those enhancements added up to 4,125 deployments last year - so, on average, we optimized the platform 11 times a day, 7 days a week with zero scheduled downtime (more on that below).
We launched 6 major apps and features to the platform, introduced 4 new integrations, and added countless small (but mighty) advancements along the way.
Every decision we make at Rhythm is built not only with the customer in mind but with their input, too. So we know we’re delivering exactly what they need.
RAPID PERFORMANCE - RELIABLY
Many association technology providers have scheduled maintenance, downtimes, and slow load times. If you’ve used an AMS for a while, you probably already know this. When you add it all up, it's common for many AMS platforms to be down for several days, or even weeks, each year. That impacts an associations's ability to be effective.
That was never going to work at Rhythm - not with 4,000+ deployments in a year and customers trying to do good in the world. We knew we had to set a new standard.
In 2022, our uptime was 99.95% - with no scheduled downtime. Ever. (For those doing the math at home, that’s just over 4 hours of downtime for the entire year).
Because of Rhythm’s architecture, we’re able to release more frequently and at a faster clip - with a lower likelihood of failure and a considerably faster recovery time when things do go wrong.
What does that mean? Our customers enjoy frequent additions and improvements to the platform without the hassle or headache of interruptions.
POWERFUL INTEGRATIONS
As the AMS, Rhythm serves as the central hub for our customers’ day-to-day operations and most (if not all) of their data. Integrated with best-in-breed speciality platforms, we unlock a powerful tech ecosystem that expands an association’s offering and the experience they provide to constituents.
For an integration to work, the two systems need to talk to one another by pushing and pulling information regularly. Rhythm does this a lot - to tune of millions of times in a single month. Every API call ensures the integration performs as expected and provides a seamless experience for association staff and constituents.
In 2023, we expect to welcome even more integration partners into the fold and are excited to be able to recommend them to our customers.
Raising the bar for the customer experience
Far too often, we hear stories from associations that are frustrated with the level of customer support they receive from their AMS provider - a platform that is critical to their everyday operations and the member experience.
They have lamented that their support tickets go into a black hole, never to be seen or acknowledged again. Others have shared that they feel like the provider’s staff doesn’t understand their organization’s processes or worse - the platform itself. There were a surprising few that pointed out that they had to log a support ticket and pay additional fees whenever they wanted to make a change to their configuration settings.
In summary: many associations feel unheard and unempowered by their AMS provider.
This is far from the support experience we want to provide for our customers at Rhythm. After all, Customer Obsession is one of our core values and is at the heart of how we operate here.
Here are some ways we showed up for our customers last year.
A SUPPORT EXPERIENCE CUSTOMER CAN LOVE
At Rhythm, our Customer Experience team is committed to knowing everything there is to know about the Rhythm platform, but more importantly our customers.
This team serves on the frontlines to answer technical questions and resolve any problems our customers may run into while using the platform. As with all Rhythm teams, we measure our performance to establish benchmarks and identify areas for improvement.
One of the metrics we use to measure our support experience is the Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT). Every time our team resolves an issue, we ask the customer if they were satisfied with the support they received and we use that data to calculate the CSAT.
In 2022, 92% of Rhythm customers shared that they were happy with the support they received on a support ticket - that’s 15% higher than the benchmark for other companies in the Computer Software industry.
And we’re not stopping there. With the help of every customer who gives us feedback, we’re making continuous improvements to our support processes to bring that number even closer to 100% in 2023.
SPEEDY RESPONSES TO HIGH-PRIORITY ISSUES
Not all issues and questions are made equal. Our Customer Experience team takes into account the impact and urgency of any issue or question a customer might have - we call these high-priority tickets.
Maybe it’s opening day of renewal season or onsite at an event and you need us to be there for you - fast. Whatever the scenario, our team has measures in place to make sure we can respond quickly when our customers and their constituents need us most.
In 2022, Rhythm solved 41% of high-priority tickets in less than an hour and 96% were solved in less than 24 hours.
As for those every-day support tickets? They’re a combination of general questions, configuration help requests, and errors in the platform. With tickets like these, our average first response time is less than 20 hours with an average resolution time of 7 days.
Far from a black hole, we like to get answers to our customers quickly and have plans to respond and resolve even faster in 2023.
Providing more than just technology
Associations are constantly creating new and exciting resources for their members – so we make it a point to create resources for you as well.
In 2022 alone, we shared 32 blog posts on all things associations - from member engagement to event strategies, leadership techniques, and more. A few crowd favorites?
And last July, our CTO + Co-Founder, Jim Catts, had a guest appearance on Higher Logic’s Member Engagement Show to talk about the past, present, and future of the digital member experience.
In 2023, we’re looking to team up with more Rhythm customers and industry veterans to provide even more helpful resources to help associations like yours.
What’s next
2022 was a whirlwind year of innovation and constant improvement at Rhythm. We’ve said it before, but it’s always worth repeating - we couldn’t do what we do without the help of our customers. You’re why we’re here.
As we embark on the year ahead, our current and future customers can expect more of the same - new functionality that multiplies your impact, an evolution of the basics to make your jobs easier, and a customer experience that delights.
If you’re not already on this road with us, we invite you to join the ride.
